Tag - nintendo

I made a crucial error last night before bed. I put in my earbuds and selected the latest episode of Weekend Confirmed. I usually like to listen to podcasts as I go to bed, it helps me doze off. However, this episode started out with a lot of talk about the new Nintendo 3DS. I’ve been holding off on reading or listening to too much about the 3DS because I know my track record. I figured I’d wait a few months and then pick one up once I knew the water temperature.

I don’t know if it was going to sleep listening to the Weekend Confirmed guys praising the 3DS, but I woke up with one mission to accomplish.

I went out to pick up breakfast for the family (a Sunday tradition) and decided to stop by my local Target… just to check. It was around 8:45 am and no one was waiting in line by the door. I saw about 10 people standing outside the GameStop on the other end of the shopping center. I figured if people were lined up at the GameStop then there was probably no chance that Target had any left.

I decided to go in anyway… just to make sure (you have to be sure, you know). The place was empty, bu there were a couple people working at the electronics counter. The guy asked me what I was looking for and I said “Are there any 3DS left or if have they all been pre-ordered up”. They both laughed and said they had tons of them, what color would I like? I bought a blue one and a copy of Pilotwings Resort.

Something about Nintendo systems always brings out the kid in me. I sat on a curb in front of a Toys R Us with my wife the morning the Gamecube was released. I stood in line with the Shamoozal crew for the Wii’s midnight launch. I even pre-ordered a DSi from Amazon and raced home from work on my lunch break to intercept it. For me, Nintendo reminds me of Christmas mornings playing Mario games or exploring Hyrule after my homework was done. It’s something I enjoy with my six year old daughter in the same way that a parent might enjoy riding Dumbo with their child at the Magic Kingdom. It’s a connection between your own childhood and the child you’re raising.

So far since getting it home, we’ve been playing with all the pre-installed stuff. The AR Card Games completely blew me away. I really wasn’t expecting it to do anything that neat with the 3D. As I write this, my daughter is walking around the house taking 3D pics of the dog and everything else she can. I figure we’ll try out Pilotwings at some point today.

Today The Legend of Zelda turns 25 years old. That’s probably older than most of you people reading this! I won’t bore you with a history lesson because those can easily be found all over the internet today. Instead I want to go over some of my personal favorite Zelda memories.

The gold game and the title scroll

The day my brother brought home his NES he managed to borrow a bunch of games from a buddy, one of them being Zelda, which I referred to as “The gold game.” Zelda at that point didn’t really make sense to me, but I remember liking it despite walking around the world map and completely avoiding dungeons as I found them too frustrating.

What I really loved about The Legend of Zelda, and what I still love about it, is that title screen and scroll sequence. It made such a lasting impression on me that to this day I still get the same joy out of watching it that I did then. That scroll screen was a brilliant idea really, as it gave the player a hint of all of the amazing secret items that are tucked away in the game. It doesn’t tell you what they do or how to get them, but it lets you know that they’re there and ready to be discovered. It gives the player a sense of scope before even seeing the game itself. And the title screen? How cool is it that when you hit the power button you get met with that thing? Especially in this day and age where players are forced to sit through a million stupid logo and warning screens before actually getting to a title screen.

Shadow Link

Growing up I had a love hate relationship with Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link. Sometimes I’d love it, other times I’d hate it as I saw it inferior to Zelda 1 (I still sort of do think its inferior, but I still love it). Anyway, it sounds silly today because it’s been done so many times before, but the fight with Shadow Link at the end of Zelda 2 was mind blowing. We thought that we just defeated the final boss, but upon entering the next room Link stands for a moment and then his shadow breaks from him. It’s here we’re met with the true final boss. It’s a common thing to fight a “dark” or “shadow” version of yourself in a game now, but this is the first game I can think of that ever did it (I’m sure it’s not though) and the reveal was awesome. It’s actually a frustrating a brutal fight (if you don’t use the cheat spot) but it is manageable with some practice.

In another somewhat brilliant moment, we’re introduced to Shadow Link throughout the game. At the time video games never showed shadows, but in Zelda 2 you’d get glimpses of Link’s shadow like when you’d defeat an end boss. While it appeared to just be a flashy effect, they actually made use of it at the end, having it separate from Link and attack. Also, look at Nintendo doing the whole silhouette thing 20 years before it became cool in more modern titles (like Limbo and Donkey Kong Country Returns).

Breaking the Seal

A Link to the Past was a huge game. While it was much more helpful than Zelda 1 in terms of it giving the player several clues and tips, it came packaged with a Tip Book that was separate from the manual. In an attempt to make players think twice about opening it, the tip book was actually sealed with a triforce sticker. My brothers vowed to never open the tip book, that they would overcome the game on their own. As a result, I wasn’t able to open the tip book either or I’d be in serious trouble. It didn’t matter much to me because I watched them play most of the game and just applied what I knew from them when I’d get to play it. However, one day my brothers found themselves stuck. They completed every dungeon and knew that they needed to blow up the crack at the Pyramid in the Dark World but they couldn’t figure it out. What were they to do? Doing the unthinkable, they broke the seal. There, listed as it’s final tip of the six pages lie the answer to “How do I get the Super Bomb?” And such a simple answer! Just go to the bomb store where it was already available. To come so far without having to open the tip book only to find such a simple solution is truly soul crushing. Amazing that such a tiny little book was responsible for a couple of teenagers to lose their gaming dignity. It’s all because Nintendo sealed it with a sticker. Pretty brilliant move.

The Wind Fish

There is a lot to love about Link’s Awakening, but when I think back to that game the one thing I always remember is that Wind Fish. I can’t really explain why, but it’s pretty magical for whatever reason. I suppose because the whole mystery of it during the game. We’re shown the Wind Fish egg the entire duration of the game, we know that it must be opened in order to win. At the same time we’re also told throughout the game that if we open that egg all hell will break loose. He may not have popped out the way we thought he would when we finally do it, but when he finally appears, it is indeed magical (and surreal). Magical, and somber actually, as the citizens of Koholint Island were right in that awakening the fish did cause the end of the world. Their world anyway, but it was required for Link to awaken from his nightmare so that he could survive.

The Forest Temple

Ocarina of Time is probably my favorite Zelda game. I know it’s sort of cliche to list that or Link to the Past, but I’ll be damned if Ocarina of Time didn’t change my perception of what games could be. The Forest Temple, probably the best dungeon in any Zelda game, is what I believe to be the embodiment of what Zelda is. It absolutely nails the atmosphere as it’s spooky, beautiful, and mysterious. The puzzles are just right, tricky enough to where you’ll be running from one end of the dungeon to the other trying to find clues and solutions, but never to the point where you’re just flat out baffled to where it’s a game breaker. The ominous music that plays in the background is probably one of my favorite Zelda tracks too, perfectly complimenting the mood. Then the final fight against Phantom Ganon is just the icing on the cake. I’ve actually started new games in this just to play up to this dungeon. It’s fantastic. Unfortunately, it’s so good the rest of the dungeons in Ocarina don’t feel quite as awesome. Though that desert temple one is cool, if not a slight pain in the ass.

Anju and Kafei

I’m glad the internet has come around to this fantastic sequence from Majora’s Mask. Majora’s Mask probably wasn’t as celebrated as it should have been thanks to it’s release timing. Coming out only months before the launch of the Playstation 2 and during the Dreamcast’s semi-decent first year run, the N64 was just an old hat, and considering Majora didn’t look much different than Ocarina, it sort of got the shaft. It is indeed one of the finest Zelda games ever created and the quest of Anju and Kafei is proof of that.

Link is tasked with reuniting a separated couple during the three day span of the game. Anju and Kafei were set to be married, but Skull Kid turned Kafei into a child causing him to go into hiding. During the three days Link works his ass off to get the couple to reunite so that they can be married. There’s even a fantastic sequence where the player controls Kafei, the first time where the player controls anyone but Link in a Zelda game, where the two work together to get a mask from a bandit. When the couple reunites, they know that they’re facing the end of the world. With time running out, the two marry despite Kafei’s appearance and await their impending doom together. Of course Link resets time, but in this version of the story, the couple dies together. It’s the most touching moment in a Zelda game, and the lengthy side quest makes amazing use of the three day time span showing off absolutely fantastic game design in the process.

Conducting for the first time & the secret sequel

I wasn’t really sold on the baton when reading about it before The Wind Waker was released. I wasn’t ready to let my Ocarina go, but the first time you’re asked to conduct in The Wind Waker changed my mind immediately. I’ll admit that I was seriously confused by it. I sort of just starred at the screen not really understanding what it wanted from me, but I had fun just screwing around, listening to all of the sounds and getting a grasp on the timing. When I finally composed the song, I realized this was something special.

Before leaving Wind Waker, another great moment was how it was a secret follow up to Ocarina of Time, with the big reveal of Hyrule underwater and tales of the Hero of Time. One of the first times a Zelda game directly referenced the efforts of a previous Link. What a cool moment.

Final Battles of Twilight Princess

I’m probably one of the few that really, really loves Twilight Princess. I personally feel its the pinnacle of 3D Zelda games (though I admittedly have more of a soft spot for Ocarina). I’m not sure how someone could like Ocarina or Wind Waker and not love Twilight Princess, but that isn’t what this is about. Anyway, Twilight Princess easily wins the “best final boss” contest when it comes to Zelda games. There are no less than four different battles, all testing Link’s different strengths. It starts with the usual reflect magic battles made famous in A Link to the Past, but then it quickly changes into much more dramatic affair. Remember that goat herding from the first hour of Twilight Princess? Who would have thought Link would use those skills to fight Ganon’s pig form so much later? And then there’s a great horseback sequence, and if that wasn’t enough you finally go sword to sword with Ganon himself. I mean, this is the sort of fan service stuff that was teased all the way back in the Gamecube’s original Zelda demo reel. And although sword swings are just simple waggle gestures in Twilight Princess, I’d be lying if I told you I wasn’t seriously swinging that remote around like my life depended on it. For those few minutes, I finally felt like Link fighting Ganon.

So those are just a few of my favorite Zelda memories scattered across almost all the mainline Zelda games. I of course have plenty of others, but those are all the first ones I usually associate with those games when I reflect on them. It’s crazy that I’ve been playing Zelda games nearly my entire life and how they’ve never really gotten old (with the exception of Phantom Hourglass, probably the only Zelda I don’t like). While Nintendo isn’t officially celebrating Zelda’s 25th at the moment, it’s a great year to be a Zelda fan. With both Skyward Sword, Ocarina of Time 3D, and Link’s Awakening DS for 3DS download, there is no shortage of great Zelda content coming this year.

In the follow-up to their self-titled album, The Protomen are going back to the beginning to explore the relationship between Albert Wily and Thomas Light. What were the events that molded them into the men we’ve come to know in their later years? Once again, they’ve pulled off a brilliant piece of music that could be appreciated by someone with no knowledge whatsoever about Mega Man.

If you like this, I highly recommend you head over to their web site and pick up “Act II: The Father of Death”

I’ve had an itch that hasn’t been scratched since the day I finished Hotel Dusk on the Nintendo DS. That game introduced me to a genre that I never knew existed and got me playing awesome series like Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton, but they didn’t quite fill the void. Compounded by the sad news that the sequel to Hotel Dusk “Last Window” will probably never come to the US, I had pretty much given up hope on getting an experience like that again. Then I came across “999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors” developed by Chunsoft and published by Aksys Games. After spending more than a few hours in the game I can safely say that this is exactly what I was looking for.

999 (as I will refer to it henceforth) is a Visual Novel that relies heavily on exploration, puzzle solving and conversational dialog to tell it’s story. The basic premise is this: You wake up locked in a strange room with no memory of how you got there. You are presented with the challenge of finding your way out by following a series of clues hidden throughout the room. Once you escape you find that you are part of something larger than you initially realized.

Many of the game’s puzzles are numeric in nature (given the title of the game that should come as no surprise) but there is still a good variety. You’ll often find yourself combining items you find to alter them and use them in unconventional ways.

The game’s art style is your standard anime fare with a wide range colorful characters that you’ll meet along the way. The music, composed by Shinji Hosoe, adds an additional layer of suspense and creepy ambiance. I just got my mitts on a copy of the OST and I’m jamming out to it while I write.

So, if you’re a fan of Hotel Dusk and you’ve been waiting for a game with a similar narrative and experience, look no further. Pick up a copy 999: 9 Hours, 9 Persons, 9 Doors today and dust off your thinking cap. You’re gonna need it.

Update 1/24: I’ve now completed 3 of the 6 endings for the game. I won’t reveal anything about them other than to say it’s amazing how your choices change the outcome each time. My first play-through took me roughly 6-8 hours. Each one since then has gone faster because you can skip through any cutscenes you’ve already watched. I’m working on getting the ‘real’ ending tonight.

Sometimes people don’t really know what they want. Both Nintendo fans and critics come down on the company for being guilty of creating sequels that feel very similar to one another. Zelda has been under fire for years now as most people believe the formula hasn’t changed since A Link to the Past. Metroid is in the same boat, with a formula that hasn’t changed since Super Metroid. As a result, Nintendo has finally decided to give the Metroid franchise a make over, and where Metroid Prime stuck true to form despite being in first person, Other M breaks tradition while at the same time going back to its roots from the NES era. The result? A split fan base that seems to either love or hate it. Maybe people really do want the same experience over and over again?

Back in 2007, Retro Studio used Metroid Prime 3 as a way to show people that the Wii remote was capable of delivering a tense first person experience thanks to then ground breaking IR control and some clever uses of waggle (the grapple beam) and motion control (opening doors). It came at a time where Wii games were simply mini-game collections (not much has changed) or broken traditional games (I guess not much changed there either). So it’s interesting that Metroid: Other M’s control lay on the other end of the design spectrum, yet just like Prime 3, paves the way for how action games should play not just on the console, but on all consoles period.

In a ballsy move, Nintendo decided that Other M should use only the Wii remote, meaning no nunchuck attachment. For the people that wanted nunchuck control as an option? Too bad, the players don’t have any options and are forced to play with just the remote. It’s an admirable move in an age where action games use every single button on a cluttered controller. People scoffed at the idea of playing a 3D game without an analog stick, and somehow after supposedly playing the game, they still want a nunchuck to control the action. I almost wonder if they were playing the same game I was because Other M plays near flawlessly.

I come from the camp that believes all 3D games should be played with an analog stick. I couldn’t imagine playing Super Mario Galaxy 2 with just the D-Pad, and I actually refused to play Mario 64 on the DS thanks to the lack of analog stick. The thing is, Other M is designed around the D-Pad as much as a 3D game is designed around the precision of an analog stick. The game intuitively guides Samus around 3D areas, at times she’ll automatically run around winding corridors as the player simply holds in the direction she should be going. Platforming feels fantastic thanks to bits of assisting when it comes to landing a jump. If you a miss a jump, chances are it’s your fault as the game thoughtfully locks Samus onto the area the player is trying to navigate to. Shooting Samus’ blaster in a 3D space is easy too, as the game will automatically target the nearest foe, or whomever Samus is currently facing. If all this makes the game sound too easy, well, that’s where the other interesting bits come into play.

Another element tailored to the D-Pad is Samus’ flashy “sense” move in which she can easily dodge enemy attacks by tapping away from them during the point of impact. Timing is tricky at first, but once ingrained into the player’s mind, they’ll have no issues jumping and rolling to safety. The reward for a well timed dodge is a automatically charged beam which can be used to either fire off some serious rounds, or deliver a punishing finishing move to nearby enemies. Speaking of which, even her cool finishers are handled by the use of one button, and it feels just as rewarding as when Kratos does something similar with a quick time event in God of War games. Just another example of the subtle yet genius touches in control when it comes to the overall design.

The lack of pick ups to refill missiles and energy introduces a new risk/reward element to the Metroid series. Similar to recharging the beam katana in No More Heroes, if Samus is low on health or ammo, tilting the remote upright and holding in the A button takes her out of action yet enables her to recharge energy and missiles. Speaking of which, missiles can only be fired by locking onto a target in first person mode, which Samus goes into when the player points the remote at the screen. Switching to first person also has a risk/reward element to it in that Samus isn’t capable of running around, yet is able to do serious damage. It isn’t gimmicky however, as switching to first person is absolutely necessary in finding hidden items and defeating certain enemies and bosses. I’ve heard complaints about switching to first person, but as someone that plays Wii games on a consistent basis, I personally found it fun and simple to do.

As far as the actual game plays out, it has more in line with Metroid Fusion than Metroid Prime. Instead of large labyrinths that you’d find in Prime, Other M almost mirror’s Fusion’s progression right down to the way the Sectors are accessed, meaning it’s more linear than your typical Metroid adventure. That said, there is still room to get sidetracked by hunting down hidden items or going back to previous areas to get those items you couldn’t reach before once acquiring new abilities.

Speaking of abilities, in another somewhat controversial design choice, Samus actually starts with all of her abilities. Tying it into the story, Samus is only allowed to use her abilities (like the Screw Attack for example) once the character Adam grants her permission. At times it comes off silly (why wouldn’t Adam automatically authorize her Varia Suit when she’s in an area with molten hot lava that’s hurting her?) while at others it’s kind of exciting (like when Adam authorizes use of the Ice Beam during the heat of a battle). Without trying to ruin anything, it eventually gets to a point where Samus just kind of says “f it” and takes things into her own hands. To be honest, I don’t mind the explanation of the item progression here. Samus still gets the abilities as the game moves on, so in the end it still feels how it would in any other Metroid game.

The story, which needs to be addressed, is acceptable and about on par with an average game plot. I don’t really understand all of the out right hate for what Nintendo delivered here. Does it have cheesy lines, and so-so voice acting? It sure does. Is the story going to win any awards? No, but it’s fun enough to see it through, and it’s full of a neat little things that long time Metroid fans should appreciate. Samus herself is seen as a flawed and conflicted individual, something fans can’t seem to wrap their minds around as they apparently want Samus to be nothing more than a female Master Chief. Sure, the story doesn’t hold a candle to something like the story sequences in a game like Uncharted, but it’s about average on a whole, and no where near as insulting as some of Nintendo’s other talky games like both Star Fox Adventures and Assault. As for the plot itself, it often feels like a simpler take on Metal Gear Solid 2, with The Bottle Ship (which ironically looks just like a baby bottle) having much in common with The Big Shell. The only thing that really bothered me with the story progression was the lack of a pause or skip button as they tend to go on for a while.

That’s not my only beef with Other M. There are times when the player is asked to focus on something that Samus is apparently looking at in first person mode. These sequences completely hold up the action while the player is forced to search an area for a sometimes obscure object. Actually, sometimes the object is clear as day, but it seems like you need to get the reticule directly onto a single pixel in order for it to take. These scenes are easily the low points of the adventure. There are also a handful of instant death scenarios that haven’t really been seen in a Metroid game before, and they aren’t welcomed by any means. Chances are these trial and error sequences will see you killed at least the first time, but the game is nice enough to start you a room or two behind and not at the save point making it more of an annoyance than a hassle.

Yet aside from a few hiccups, Other M still remains an amazingly well crafted and downright exciting game. The pacing is much faster than what you’d find in the sometimes overlong and padded Prime games, the combat has never been as slick, the boss battles are incredible and the moody environment is Metroid at its purest. It would seem to me that Other M will go down in history as one of Nintendo’s misunderstood classics (like Zelda II: The Adventure of Link) in that it’s a great game that decided to do things in it’s own unique way. At the same time, while it may have split it’s core audience, Other M makes for a great entry point into the series with its accessible control system. The title is also unique and exciting enough to potentially make new fans out of people that have previously been uninterested in the Metroid series, because believe it or not, those people exist.

The Wii Virtual Console has been dead lately, and well, Sunsoft has been pretty much dead forever. Seeing these two things revived thanks to this week’s release of Ufouria makes me pretty happy.

Ufouria is a late gen NES title that was due for release in the states but never made it outside of Japan and Europe. It was far along enough that magazines like Nintendo Power had write ups and advertisements for the game. Me personally, I always wanted to try it because I loved Sunsoft games. After nearly 20 years, the Virtual Console and Sunsoft have made that dream a reality. Yes, I know I could have just downloaded a ROM of it, but whatever. I’m legit.

Ufouria: The Saga revolves around four cute Pokemon-like characters (get it? You-Four-Of-Ya) in a quest to return home. The game is very much a Metroidvania title, so exploring, learning the map, and back tracking is the name of the game here. While one character, the Frosty the Snow Man looking Bop Louie, is selectable at first it doesn’t take long to track down the other selectable characters. Of course, each character has their own unique skills (the lizard is the only one that doesn’t fall on his face on ice, the frog can swim, ect) so there is plenty of swapping going on between the four during the game. Eventually though, I found myself almost using Bop Louie and the frog almost exclusively, only going back to the lizard and ghost when I had to.

I found it interesting that for a game done in the early 90s, that Sunsoft had the sense to add arrows that pop up early on in the game to help keep players on track so that they don’t get lost or frustrated. Only after acquiring some key items and the map opens up do the arrows go away. It’s a rather forward thinking move on their part, and it’s something that hasn’t really become a standard in games until somewhat recently.

However as bold a design choice as that is, I’m baffled the game never teaches you how to attack. For the first 20 minutes I thought my character was worthless since I couldn’t harm any bad guys. I knew something was wrong and actually consulted the digital manual included with the game where I found my answer. Holding in “down” while jumping is the only way to stomp enemies. It’s a strange move in an era where we were conditioned by Super Mario that jumping on heads is the way to go. Why throw the curve ball in there? I suppose it adds some skill to how the player attacks, but as good as the game is about explaining what items do what, I’m surprised they missed such a crucial step. Still, fans of Ducktales would feel right at home after they figure out what to do.

That said, the game features a well designed and interconnected map with plenty of incentive to keep playing as the game almost constantly rewards the player with new items and gizmos. While the game does have a certain old school bite in the difficulty department, Game Overs aren’t the end of the world and are more forgiving then they might seem. Once revived the player always starts from the same point on the map, but all of the items acquired are still accounted for and since the map is so tight it isn’t too bad getting back to where you were. The game becomes even more forgiving thanks to the Virtual Console’s save function. If the player so chooses they can write down Mega Man style passwords, but the save function does the job just fine.

As a late gen NES title the game sports some nice, bold, and well animated graphics. However, the awesome Sunsoft soundtrack is nearly ruined by the fact that this is the PAL version converted for the Virtual Console and not the Famicom one, so the audio is sped up more than it should be. Though I never played the original game, I felt the soundtrack was off and doing a bit of research (ie looking on GAF and seeing people talking about it) confirmed my suspicions. It isn’t a deal breaker, just a slight bummer.

For 600 Wii Points some people might find the game to be too short (took me about two and a half hours, a half hour worth trying to figure out the final boss), but for someone that doesn’t want to pay the absurd asking price for the PAL version on eBay, that figure is rather fair.

Welp, finally made it to the moment where Volume 1 of Read Only Memory is complete. It’s hard to believe I’ve been working on ROM for half a year now!

So, Volume 1 is pretty self explanatory, but I’ll get into it one more time. Each month we’ve produced a Nintendo related short for GoNintendo.com, and this month we’re bundling them all together to create “Volume 1″ of the series. Included in this set is Turnips In Love, Simon’s Supper, The Return of Captain N, and Pizza Links.

Oh, you’ve watched the four ROM episodes already? It’s okay, watch them again, and see how I “seamlessly” blended them together! But really, if you’re a long time fan of our work, please let me know if you like this format!

With this release I hope to spread ROM to a larger audience. I’m curious to see how this package works out in the end. Thanks dudes.

I’m a couple days later than I wanted to be, but the latest episode of Read Only Memory, Pizza Links, is here! So watch the above clip, then read the rest.

As many of you guys might know, this was actually the first episode of ROM I started working on before switching to Turnips In Love. I was tinkering around with this idea way back in February but didn’t really start to build all the assets until the middle of March. Once I had the big pieces in place I recorded my script and made the animatic for it. I absolutely hated it. I hated it so much I honestly didn’t think I could salvage it, and because I wanted to get something to Kevin over at GoNintendo, I came up with Turnips In Love. In Love was easy and cute enough that I felt it was a good replacement for what I was currently working on. Plus, it was perfect for nailing the “30” second run time I was aiming for.

While working on The Return of Captain N, I was trying to figure out exactly which idea I wanted to work on next. I decided that since I already put so much work into this short that maybe I should revisit it. I took a good look at everything I had script and audio wise and decided to throw away half of it. One of the problems with the original version is that it was much too long, going on for probably close to three minutes. You’re not missing anything as I managed to get to the point in a fraction of the time, though I didn’t quite hit my magical 30 second run time. Regardless, once I was able to really narrow down the key points, I felt much happier with what I was shooting for. It’s longer than your average ROM, but it is no where near the bloated beast it once was.

I had fun with this one because it gave me a chance to visit not just Link, but four different versions of Link. I tried to give each Link the same amount of attention, but obviously the star of the show is the Link from the old 80s animated series. Probably because he’s the most fun version of all Links. Sure, he’s corny and a total cheese ball, but that’s what I like about him so much. I tried to nail down the pure stupidity of Link from the CD-I games too. As for Wind Waker Link and Twilight Link, I needed to improvise with them a bit. I decided Wind Waker Link, being the smallest, should act the toughest out of the group. Twilight Link, well, I just wanted to turn him into a big baby. This video also gave me an excuse to put a Ninja Turtle in it, and you know, Ninja Turtles were rather key during the NES era, so he’s not out of place in the video game realm.

Despite already having a lot of work previously finished, this episode was much more involving than previous episodes of ROM. So much so that I needed to enlist the help of Frank to crank out a shot for me earlier this week (he did Twilight Link acting like a bitch, which I thought looked great). Having to deal with five characters was a lot of work, even if I did limit what they did in certain areas.

So anyway, I hope you enjoyed this episode. It’s sort of the last one for a little while. Next month I’ll be doing a compilation video of all the previous episodes but hopefully adding in some new stuff.